We all feel that sense of familiarity, attachment and security at “home.” But the feeling of home is actually more complicated than that. You feel some version of the feeling in your neighborhood and town generally. There’s a version for where you work. And there’s another version for the towns you used to live in.

The place where you grew up is called your “home town” for a reason — it evokes strong emotions.

When we travel to a new place, especially one very different from the places we’ve been before, we feel the opposite of a home feeling. It feels new and possibly confusing — dangerous, even. At first, you don’t know where anything is (this is the very definition of “disoriented”). People look different, dress differently, and perhaps speak a different language. The entire “vibe” of the place is challenging and unexpected.

This effect can be magnified by the size of the differences. For example, if you’ve never left the United States, a trip to India will hit you harder than if you visit Canada — even though both are foreign countries you’ve never visited before.

First exposure to a developing or what they used to call a “third-world” country can intensify the feeling. The air is permeated with the smell of burning trash. Nobody forms a neat line. So many pedestrians. Livestock wandering through city streets. Children selling trinkets, flowers and food between fume-belching cars in gridlocked traffic. Nobody obeys traffic laws. An entire family balanced on a scooter, weaving between the cars. Street vendors aggressively hawking their wares. Meeting people with an entirely different idea about “personal space.”

Yes, first exposure to foreign places can be stressful.

This sort of intense culture shock — the feeling like you’re not at home — is probably why people often prefer resorts, cruises and tours. You get to experience foreign places while remaining in a bubble of familiarity.

That’s fine for shorter vacations: You won’t have the time to acclimate anyway.

But one of the joys of living nomadically is that while you may experience the initial culture shock of being far from home, it fades after a week or two. One day, you wake up and feel entirely at home. Because you are at home.

In fact, after allowing yourself to “feel at home” in several countries, your ideas about the whole world change. The world becomes small, friendly, comfortable, familiar and welcoming.

Nomadic living makes you generally more open-minded, tolerant, empathetic, easygoing and non-materialistic.

One last thing: We still have one spot open (for a couple) for our upcoming Barcelona Experience!! Get more info here.